Striking Midnight
by ANNAinDreamland
Summary: Seika's friend dares her to go into the haunted Dawn House. No problem, really. Except there aren't supposed to be ghosts. KisameOC Requested One-shot.


**A/N- Yes, it may not seem like it in the very beginning but it IS a KisameXOC story. I tried to write something not as cliche. -.-' Instead, I wrote something weird. Definite AU.**

**This is a requested one-shot. It was for MONTHS ago but I got busy. (SOOOOOOOORRY!)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I wish. **

**---**

It was dark out. All the stars and the moon were covered up by the thick foliage of the trees. The only lights the three of us had were two flashlights and a cell phone. The other flashlight died before we even got here. I flipped the flashlight on and flashed it at the giant black shadow in the middle of the trees.

A tiny spotlight revealed a door among the years old house, for lack of a better term. It was way too large to be called a 'house'. These days, we would just call it a mansion. An old, decrepit mansion. I clicked the flashlight back off.

"There it is. The haunted Dawn House," One of the girls whispered next to me. I glanced over but couldn't see the face. It sounded like Kitsuya. Misa mumbled something too quiet to hear under her breath in reply.

There were three of us here right now, in the forest, in the middle of the night. My two friends, Kitsuya and Misa, then me. It was hard to remember how exactly we got here. We were just having a tiny get-together near my house that led us to the woods in the back of my house and then, here.

No one was allowed near the Dawn House. It wasn't like there was a law or anything. It was just some unspoken sort of thing. It was supposedly haunted. If my parents knew I was even here... Well, it wouldn't be good.

"Who's going in?" Someone asked. Kitsuya. She had to practically drag Misa to even come with us. I snorted.

"We're not going in, idiot!" I replied back to the girl quietly. "We're not even supposed to be here!" Somewhere among the trees, an owl hooted.

"Scared, Seika?" Kitsuya mocked. Misa moaned, knowing as well as I did where this was going.

I rolled my eyes. "A creepy, haunted house in the middle of a forest at night. Hm. Duh." I shifted myself, placing my hands on the dewy ground and kneeling. For some reason, we were hiding behind some thick bushes. I hated to know what sort of bugs were all over me at this second. "Why don't _you_ go in the creepy place?"

"We already know I've _been_ in the house! And I only went with one other person," Kitsuya sighed. Misa muttered something about a baseball bat... "It's not exciting if I go in it again. But you've never went in there!"

"For good reason," I grumbled. I started standing up. "This is boring. Let's just go." Misa shot up from her place right next to me.

"Thank you!" She squeaked. "I really want to go to bed."

Flicking the flashlight back on to see, I pointed it at Kitsuya. Her usually straight, long hair was messy in a ponytail. And for some reason, she was smirking.

"If you go in and last 30 minutes, Seika," The girl spoke. "I'll let you borrow my Revelations book." I gasped, then starting choking on my spit in shock. I tried to reply as I was coughing.

"What?!" I managed to croak. Revelations was a book in the series I absolutely adored but I still haven't read the third one yet. Everyone else managed to check it out at the library before I could and I was too broke to buy my own copy. And Kitsuya being Kitsuya didn't let people borrow her books. Typical. "Are you serious?!"

"For a week!" She replied. That meant a lot to me. I could generally finish a book in three-four days. I even had time to reread it. And I knew I would want to reread it. I just had to read it first... "Promise."

"No, Kitsuya," Misa moaned. "Can't we _please_ just go back to the house? I'm really creeped out." Misa really did hate stuff like this... But I really wanted to read this book. I've been waiting so patiently for the last month. I was probably the only person on Earth yet to read this book.

"15 minutes!" I tried to bargain. Kitsuya gave off a chortle.

"As if! 30 minutes!"

"20, please!"

"No! 30!"

"20 minutes and I will absolutely never ever EVER forget this!" I begged and clamped my hands together. "Please! I will do anything you want in return! Just please, please, please, just 20 minutes!"

It was silent for a second, besides the regular sounds of nature at night, as I let Kitsuya ponder this. I really wanted to read the book but Misa really wanted to get back to my house. If I had to make a choice... I was stuck. The girl exhaled.

"Fine, 25 minutes," Kistuya granted. "But I won't forget this!" Of course. Take off five minutes all for that. I had to wonder if it was worth it.

---

The rotten, wooden door slid closed as I pushed it shut. Slowly shifting the flashlight through the room, old fashioned furniture, filled with dust and cobwebs and whatever else creepy crawlers, littered the room. Most appeared to be broken and crumbled from shoddy care.

Creaks and groans echoed in the room as I started walking forward, pointing my light everywhere. The room was fairly large, which wasn't surprising. It looked humungous from the outside. The inside must be even larger. I wondered who used to live here. There were few records from hundreds years ago or more so it was difficult to know just how old this place was.

The only thing that kept people from knocking this place down were the people who owned the land, whoever they were. No one else came around.

The flashlight lit up a spot on the wall where there was a hole showing through to the next wall. The people could have at least taken better care of this place. It was one of the oldest places around here. It was, like, historical.

Finding a doorway, I walked over to it and flashed the light through. It was a long hallway intersection with a stairway. Flicking the light around, I saw I could go left, right or straight up stairs. Going over each wooden step with the flashlight, they all looked fairly safe.

Cautiously, I started edging myself up the creaking stairs, gripping the banister tight. I couldn't help but secretly wonder how the rest of the place looked. My parents never let me in here.

I safely reached a flat area in the stairs. Pointing the flashlight up, I tried to see up the rest of the stairs. It was still too dark to see anything. The only thing I could tell was that the stairs went on. I sighed and plopped down on the top step.

You know, it was actually pretty sad about the state of this house. Sure, Japan kept up with a lot of the traditional buildings but this had to have been one of the most beautiful buildings in its time. I wouldn't be surprised if someone important had owned this house.

It was hard to tell in the dark but it was several stories tall with multiple tower type things. It was all very early Japan, too. It had sliding doors, paper walls and even the roof had the decorative roofing.

It was too bad I came at dark when I couldn't see. Dilapidated or not, it was beautiful. I sighed and rested my elbows on my knees. 23 more minutes to go. Whoo.

Maybe I could take a nap. Kitsuya promised she'd come and get me when my time was up. I hadn't moved that far. All she'd have to do is call my name. I closed my eyes.

A cold drift passed by me and I huddled deeper in my thin jacket. If I had realized that I was going to be out this late, I would have grabbed a thicker jacket. Now, it I get sick, I'll be so angry. It's even too cold to fall asleep! Yawning, I stretched and peeked my eyes open.

I froze and slowly widened my eyes.

_Something was there._

It was big. Gigantic. Formless under a black and red sheet. Frightened and hardly breathing, my eyes moved upward and met blue. A blue _face_. With small, black eyes glaring at me.

Large, but a definite humanoid, figure.

"What are you doing here?" It spoke. Gruff and angry, but it definitely spoke. A scream erupted from my throat. People had said this place was haunted. I just never believed them.

Jumping up, I turned to run the opposite way. Instead, I hit something hard. Looking up, I nearly fainted. It was the blue _thing_ again. Except, it had just been right behind me. I jerked back, yelling in shock.

Something strange happened, then. One second, I was standing on the ground. The next, my feet were no longer underneath me and I was falling. And falling _hurt_.

I hit everything against the stairs. My face, legs, arms, stomach and anything else that could get hurt. My hand scrambled for a hold on something, a banister bar, a stair, anything. My nails scratched into the wood but didn't hold.

I heard a crack and a cry but everything was fuzzy. I barely realized I stopped moving and tried to get up to run. My eyes barely opened.

Something appeared in front of me, amidst the darkness, but I couldn't tell what it was.

---

Waking up was very disorientating.

My neck was bent uncomfortably and my limbs were spread of all over the place. Everything hurt. Even my big toe. My _**freaking**_ big toe. My eyes fluttered open. Where was I?

I was lying on a wooden floor, one filled with dust and cobwebs. Gingerly, placing a hand on the dirty floor, I pushed myself into a sitting position on the ground. My head swirled for a second.

I let my head clear first then looked around me. My flashlight, still on, was right next to me. I grabbed it. There were two large couches covered by old, yellowed sheets, a couple of wooden tables and boarded up windows. Everything was old and dusty.

That's right. I fell in the old Dawn House. I glanced back around. Why hadn't Kitsuya and Misa been here to make sure I was alright? There wasn't any light coming from the windows. It was either too dark outside still or the boards were too thick. But I had to have been out for more than 15-20 minute and they couldn't have just left me here. Could they?

Oh, god. My parents. They are going to _kill_ me. They are going to skin me alive and keep me under lock and key until I am 100 years old. I can say goodbye to all the good times I thought I would have in my last year of high school.

I gently pulled myself up from the floor. Considering I fell down a flight of old stairs, I wasn't as bad as I thought I would be. I was definitely bruised but I hadn't bled. My hand massaged my sore neck for a second and brought it away. Red, dry flakes stood against pale skin.

Okay, so I hadn't bled much.

The floor creaked as I walked to the front door, favoring my right ankle. It hurt slightly so I wobbled but it could be worse. My hand lingered on the paper door to leave, when I glanced back into the slightly darkened room. I had no clue what I saw last night but I was glad to be leaving now.

"It won't help," A gruff, male voice said. I gasped and turned around, cowering, clutching my arms to myself. I saw him better with the little amount of light was flashlight was giving off.

He had blue skin, just like I had thought I had seen but wasn't sure. And it wasn't even 'my-skin's-blue-because-I'm-dead' blue but an actual bluish color. That wasn't the only strange thing, either. His hair was blue, as well, and his features weren't even human-like. His nose was larger and blunter than regular humans and there were gills on his face. It was like he was half-human, half-shark, wearing a large, black cloak with white-rimmed red clouds.

"Oh, god," I exhaled, sliding down the door. My hands dropped the flashlight in my lap and covered my face, instead. "I hoped I just made him up. Okay, breath. He's not really there. You're just really confused right now."

I peeked my eyes open. Everything focused in and my eyes adjusted to the darkness again.

"So, you can see me, huh?" He was still there. I mentally groaned and stood up, pointing the flashlight at the... male. He was just sitting there, on the dust covered couch, staring at me. I stood up, carefully studying his eyes.

"I have no clue what you think you are doing," I gritted my teeth, clutching the flashlight in a death grip. "But I am leaving this house right _now_." Turning around, I grabbed the paper door and whipped it open, causing it to thud against the wood. Then I froze. "What's going on?"

It was like a pure black sheet was placed over the doorway. I couldn't see literally anything looking out. Holding up the flashlight, it was like the blackness just absorbed the light, like a black hole. Hesitantly, I placed my hand over the darkness.

It felt like nothing was there, yet at the same time, something was blocking my hand from going any further than the door. The flashlight dropped and I rested my other hand on it. It was like a screen glass.

"I tried to tell you. It's useless," I turned around to stare at the man. He was still watching me, almost curiously.

"What do you mean?" I asked in a tiny voice. Maybe someone was playing a joke on me. One that wasn't very funny. Or maybe this man... Maybe he had me trapped here.

"It's past dawn. Once a person is still inside at dawn, they can't leave until midnight," He replied. Then he grinned. His teeth were white but all sharp and pointy; just like a shark's. "But you're the first to actually see me."

I shook my head, my mind denying what he was saying to me. "I don't understand."

"No one else has ever seen me before," The man stated, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You're the first." I snorted.

"And now you're going to tell me that you're some dead guy stuck to this world by some unknown force," I replied, sarcastically, glaring at him. "Like I said, I have no clue what's going on but let me out now."

The blue man glared back. "Haven't you been listening to me? You can't leave until midnight. It won't let you."

I walked over closer to him, to the couch opposite of him. "What won't let me?" I snarled. "The house?!" The guy gave me a murderous look and I backed away an inch. He looked like he really meant it. I swallowed and exhaled. "Okay. What won't let me, then?"

The look on his face disappeared slowly but a cross-looking one still stayed. I edged over to the couch and, keeping my eyes on him, gradually sat down across from him. I made sure that the low table was between us.

"Are you going to listen to me, girl?" He snapped at me. I winced, and then nodded. Might as well not make him any angrier. He was silent for a second. "There's a jutsu restraint on the house to make sure no one can leave or enter besides at midnight."

My eyes blinked. "Uh, what?" I asked, dumbly. "What's a jutsu restraint?" He sighed.

"I figured," The man/shark thing grumbled. He went on when he looked at my face. I wasn't exactly hiding the fact that I was confused as hell. "Seems everyone forgot all about jutsu and chakra." His mouth twisted as if he was trying to smile at a crummy joke.

"I don't care _what_ it is anyway, really," I responded, glaring around at the house, trying to find this _jutsu_ thing. "All I want to be able to do is know why it won't let me out of this creepy house." His lips tightened around his mouth, showing a couple sharp teeth.

"Look at it this way," He responded sharply. I involuntarily flinched back a step. "It's like a force barrier is surrounding the house. It won't let anyone in or out. The only time anyone is capable of doing so is at midnight, when the jutsu weakens."

I pondered this thought. It did make more sense comparing the... jutsu restraint thing to a force barrier. Yet, it still made no sense. Why put a force barrier on an old, desecrate house? I looked down at my hands in my lap.

"Why, though?" I asked the person. "What's in the house that has to be protected?" As I waited for an answer, I glanced up at him and immediately recoiled into the old couch. He had this horrible, toothy grin on him.

"It's the opposite way. It's more to protect everyone else from me."

My hands trembled. Oh, why had I ever gone into this house? I should have realized some psycho person was in this house and now I was going to die. I never even got to write out my will.

"W-who are y-you?" My voice shook as I questioned him this but it was the only thing I could think of doing. Maybe I could distract him from killing me until midnight.

"My name's Kisame but I doubt you've ever heard of me. If you have, it's probably because of a history book," He answered. I cracked a small smile at myself when he said his name.

"Demon shark? Fits," I mumbled under my breath. Everything was silent for a bit. There weren't any noises of owls or night animals from the outside. The only sounds included my breathing and... Kisame's. "What did you mean... When you said that... I was able... To see you?" I paused frequently, saying this, trying to say the words right.

Kisame shifted his head over to the side, carefully watching me with his black eyes. "It's part of the jutsu. No matter who had ever walked in before, they had never seen me before, besides you. You somehow managed to see me, despite that."

He rested blue hands on his stomach and kicked his feet on the coffee table. I looked closely at the shoes he was wearing. They were the weirdest shoes I had ever seen. They were almost like sandals, except not really. Weird and unexplainable.

"What's your name, girl?" Kisame asked as I studied his different shoes.

"Seika," I said, off-handedly, not paying attention really. Where would you get such weird shoes? This man had to be the weirdest person on the world. And his shoes and blue skin were just the beginning.

"What are you doing here?" The man asked, nearly sounding interested. Brushing my dark bangs back, I took a glimpse of him. A tiny grin rested on my face for a few seconds.

"My friend bribed me to come in here for 25 minutes and if I did, I would be able to borrow a book from her," I muttered under my breath. Now, it seemed so stupid. I laid my forehead down on my hand. "Lame, huh." Everything turned dark for a second as my eyes fluttered close and didn't reopen immediately. "…So, I really can't leave until midnight?"

"No."

---

The quiet between the two of us was nearly unbearable. All the man, Kisame, did was sit on the couch opposite me and stare. All I did was lay on my couch and look at the coffee table, drifting of the light sleep every now and then. There weren't even any noises from any possible mice or bugs. The whole house just seemed dead.

"Kisame?" My voice was small and hesitant, but even then, it practically shattered the quiet. At first, he didn't respond and I thought that maybe he fell asleep but when my eyes opened, I saw he was looking at me. I took that as invitation enough to talk. "What is jutsu and chachra?"

The side of his mouth twitch for a second. "I thought you didn't really care about that stuff," Was his reply and now that I thought of it, I did say that. I closed my eyes and shrugged as best I could laying on the couch. I just didn't like this quiet. "For one, it's not chachra, but chakra. You didn't grow up knowing about it so I can't really explain it."

"…Explain it the best you can."

I heard Kisame sigh and say, "Chakra is basically our energy we're born with that feeds our fighting abilities and attacks. Our jutsu are our techniques to how we fight."

While he said this, I contemplated this. The theory of chakra and jutsu seemed simple. Chakra is energy, jutsu is technique. It seemed more difficult than this, though.

"Who do you mean by 'we', though, Kisame? And what did you mean when you said everybody forget about jutsu?" My questions were probably bothering him but by nature, humans are naturally curious.

"They're the ones," He started to state, then paused and restated. "In my time, people were born with chakra in them. They were taught at a young age to harvest that chakra and become strong. Eventually, something happened as time passed. I don't know when but the are of chakra was lost."

My lip in the corner pulled downward. I let the stillness of the dark room take over as I thought a bit longer. Eventually, I pulled my body upward and sat in the couch, staring at the weird man in front of me. It seemed he had no qualms about staring back at me.

"You're not…" My voice trailed off and picked back up again. "How long have you been stuck in this house?"

The blue man grunted and then smirked, for a second. "Centuries," Was his simple answer. My blood ran cold. Placing my hands on my knees, I stared into his dark eyes, a confused expression on my face.

"Why?" I asked, softly.

Kisame's eyes closed and he leaned back in his seat. His face pointed to the ceiling. "I made bad choices," He said, nonchalantly. "I eventually got bound to this house, unable to leave. Unable to be seen." A small gap between speaking occurred. "Besides being seen by you."

"So you are a ghost," I mumbled to myself, as an afterthought. "Why…Why can I see you?"

"I don't know."

---

It went on in that pattern for some time. I would ask questions, Kisame would answer. I would finally pause when my throat began to hurt and we would fall into silence. Eventually, though, I would begin asking more questions.

He didn't answer personal questions but I did find out some stuff about him. He had been a ninja who left his country. He eventually joined up with a group whose cause had failed. He had been strong but someone stronger defeated him. Kisame broke that pattern I set up, though, some time after.

"How old are you?" He interrupted me during one of my questioning sessions. My face flushed slightly. This was a man definitely older than me and stronger than me. I replied that I was 17, still. "Why aren't you at home, in bed?"

I had to debate the answer to that question. There wasn't really an answer to that question. I had really only been hanging out with friends and somehow, got dragged here. "I really don't know."

"Will your parents be okay with the fact that you're not at home right now?" I glanced away from him and brushed back my hair.

"They'd have to actually notice I was gone, first," Kisame didn't push me to explain my answer. I was grateful.

---

I had nearly fallen asleep again when I noticed Kisame's contemplative look on his face. He was staring past my shoulder and at the door. I rub my eyes.

"What's the matter?" My voice was a bit rough from being so tired. He glanced at me and looked back at the door. Minutes past before he finally answered my query.

"It's nearly midnight."

I should have been relieved. I had been stuck in this house for nearly 24 hours but a part of me, a big part of me, wasn't. I was disappointed.

I sat in the couch, waiting for the time it would strike midnight, staring at the man in front of me. I finally asked the question I had been wanting to ask the second I found out how long he had been forced to stay here.

"You're lonely, aren't you?" Kisame didn't answer me but I hadn't really asked. I already knew the answer. He had been alone for hundreds of years. No one had been able to see him. He had been unable to had any form of human interaction. I searched into his blank face. He yielded nothing.

I picked myself off from the couch for the first time I had sat down on it and made my way past the low table. The man kept his eyes on me the whole time and stepped my way over to his couch. I laid down on his couch and placed my head on his lap.

He didn't move, nor did he question me. I closed my eyes and my breathing slowed once a felt a rough hand gently stroking my hair.

"Do you think I'll ever be able to see you again?" I asked him, quietly, afraid of the answer. He sighed above me.

"I'm not sure, Seika," That was one thing I liked about him. He didn't bother with lying. If he couldn't lie or didn't want to, he said nothing. It was a relief to have someone answer so honestly.

Time passed. Not much. Soon, though, and too soon, he shifted and helped me sit up.

"It's time to leave," Kisame told me. He was taller than me… I nodded and he rose up. I stood up, too, facing him. We were only a couple of inches apart.

"Kisame?" My voice wandered off but my eyes closed still and I leaned my head up, stepping on my tiptoes. I lost my courage after that. Yet, I felt his gently press his lips on my forehead.

"Go before you can't."

Those were the last words he said to me before I stepped out of the house.

---

"Seika!" A voice exclaimed from out of the darkness, causing me to jolt back. A familiar girl's face appeared from the shadows. I immediately recognized the hair.

Kitsuya. And Misa joined her by her side, a terrified expression on her face.

Abruptly, I began to apologize. After all, I had gone missing for a day.

"You should be sorry, Seika!" Kitsuya chided. "You were only in the house for five minutes!" My mouth dropped open. Five minutes? That was impossible. It couldn't be! What about… Kisame?! "Seika?"

I twisted around and ran back to the door, causing Misa to yell my name.

"Kisame?!" I called out, frightened for him. This wasn't supposed to happen. Was it? He appeared right in front of me, right in the door way. My breathing slowed down without me even realizing it had been labored.

"I already know," He spoke calmer than me but his face was showed slight surprise. "It broke down and disappeared. I just realized."

"Um, S-Seika?" Misa stumbled for words behind me. "W-who's your, um, f-friend?"

_**Word Count: 4625**_


End file.
